The Tears of a Forest
by Korii
Summary: Crys of frustration keep coming to Aranel in her her dreams and what should she make of Avery Potter and his friends? And why in the world is her hair turning silver?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"ARANEL AKIMRA!" Professor McGonagall called out. A young girl with bright brown eyes tinged with green and dark brown hair walked swiftly up to the Sorting hat. She seemed to be floating above the ground and sat down on the sorting stool like it was a throne.

"Hmmm...an interesting one..." the sorting hat said in her ear. "You seem to have many traits...Kindness, care, love...all good for Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. Ah...and royalty! You belong in, GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat shouted the last word out. Aranel got up from the stool and walked over to the Gryffindor table smiling brightly amid thundering cheers.

"ALBERTA GREG!" came next and was sent to Ravenclaw.

"ZERATHEA GREYCAT!" was sent to Gryffindor.

Aranel watched as little by little, the crowds of fellow first years were sorted,

"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts Dumbledore stated after all the first years had found seats. "There are a few rules for me to announce before we eat."

Aranel slowly nodded off to sleep listening to professor Dumbledore speak. Last she remembered was him saying was"...please stay out of the forbidden forest there are all sorts of nasty creatures there..." and all conciseness was gone.

She found herself in a dark wood the tree were slimy looking and hungry too. All was quiet except moans of pain coming from...the trees! She slowly walked up to one and touched the bark.

Aranel jumped back as a cloud of white appeared. As her hand left the bark the cloud disappeared. The tree swayed, though there was no wind. What was that? she wondered.

Aranel walked back up to the tree and placed her hand upon the bark again. Slime drizzled own her arm like thick green blood.

The white shape appeared again, but this time she did not move. A young girl stepped out and slowly solidified. Color came to her cheeks as she stretched. She turned to look at Aranel and she bowed.

"Princess, I thank you, please save my people! I beg you to meet me in the Cloars Clearing! Take this and remember me!" She looked up with fear and hope in her eyes. She stood and placed something on Aranels neck. Slowly everything faded. "Save us princess, Please!"

Suddenly everything was gone. Black fog surrounded her and tried to rip her to pieces. She gasped in pain as air left her, the fog pressed harder and harder around her. With a shriek of rage the fog was gone.

Bright light poured into her eyes when she awoke. She was lying on a bed with crisp white sheets. She was warm and the sunlight poured in from some windows above her bed. A cheerful looking lady walked briskly up to her and smiled. She handed Aranel a bar of chocolate.

"Here eat this." The nurse said motioning to the bar in her hand. "It'll help your head...I assume you have a headache? You can always tell by the color of the skin."

"Really?" she asked then sighed as she bit into the chocolate. A few minutes later she relaxed as the chocolate took effect.

The nurse smiled pulled out another bar of chocolate and placed it on the small table next to her bed.

"Here you go. You best sleep for an hour then get to your common room. I will see to it a prefect comes by and teaches you what you need to know for now." She grinned and left.

Aranel sighed and fell into a dreamless sleep.

"Hello!" said a cheery voice on Aranel's right. "I'm Meg!"

Aranel turned to see a chubby short girl of about 16-17 years of age. She had dark brown hair and eyes. She reminded Aranel of an owl, a chubby brown owl. Aranel immediately liked her.

"I'm the prefect Nurse sent for." Meg smiled showing bright white pearls of teeth. "You ready?"

"Where is my stuff?" Aranel asked.

"It's up in your dorm...In your room." Meg replied

"Oh."

"Let's go!" Meg laughed.

-----------------------

Aranel fell onto her bed exhausted. The room was decorated with crimson red walls and gold borderlines. Three other girls shared the room and all are fast asleep. Aranel followed suit.


	2. Page 2

Aranel woke up the next morning early. The girl on the bunk next to her was snoring. Her arm dangled above the floor and drool fell upon her pillow. Aranel laughed quietly and slipped out of bed.

She dressed quickly and ran downstairs. No one was in the common room. Aranel slumped on one of the velvet red arm chairs.

The fire was nice and calm sending bright sparks out to explore every so often. She yawned and watched as the fire died down slowly.

Suddenly she heard a voice.

"Hello!"

Aranel sat upright, looking around wildly.

"Who?"

"Oh sorry." came the sheepish reply.

A boy suddenly appeared out of thin air. A dark red cloak appeared beside him a minute later.

"Sorry about that, I forget it's an invisibility cloak."

"An in invisibility cloak!" Aranel asked in surprise

"Yea my dad gave it to me."

"Cool! So anyway, who exactly are you?" Aranel asked him

"You must be new. I'm Avery Potter one of the most famous people in school, only because I'm "Harry Potter's boy"." He replied

"Harry Potter...Oh, I read about him in Hogwarts: a history...the updated version. By the way I'm Aranel Akimra."

"I know. You're pretty famous too." He said

"I am?"

"Yea, right in the middle of Dumbledore's speech, you got up and walked right up to Professor Dumbledore!"

"I did?" Aranel asked standing up, but her legs gave out and she fell back again.

"Yea, everybody's talking about it! You touched his forehead then fell down silently screaming and writhing, or at least that was what it looked like."

Aranel blushed, red rising to her forehead. "So that's why no one talked to me yesterday and gave me weird glances...except Meg."

"Yea, you'll get that. I do too, but not as much as you will. Don't worry people forget fairly quickly. Hang out with me and you'll fair much better. Or worse, oh, and by the way, stay away from Dec and his group, as well as Meg and the group of prefects she hangs out with."

"Why? She seemed nice enough."

"When she's alone!"

"Oh."

"So anyway, couldn't sleep?"

"No, I slept fine but I'm an early riser, You?"

"Yeah, same here."

The two new friends stared at the fire for awhile. Soon the home room was filling up with students going in and out of the dorms and the picture of a knight on a horse running around a grassy plain. Aranel could hear snatches of him yelling things like, "Come back you scallywag!" or "Good day madam."

"Hey Aranel, you hungry or are you just going to sit there and stare at the fire all day?" Asked a voice on her right. Avery was laughing at her.

"I don't see what is so funny!" She snapped at him, making him laugh harder.


	3. Page 3

"Ah, my lady," Said the knight on the closing portrait. "I do hope you have a good day." He said bowing politely. Aranel laughed and curtsied in reply.

"Come on," said Avery pulling her away from the knight "Stop flirting with sir Lacey."

"I'm NOT flirting!" Aranel said in horror

"Just kidding, just kidding!" He said putting his hands up in defense.

"You better be." Aranel grumbled

Avery laughed as Sir Lacey shook a fist at him yelling "Let go of the damsel you scallywag!"

Aranel turned and waved, laughing as the knight strutted around his painting.

As Aranel and Avery walked down the corridors to the great hall, she noticed people staring at Avery and her. She shivered, looked at her feet and kept walking.

"I know," Avery said "It really creeps me out too. Just look them in the eyes and they will look away. If you look away you'll look like your shamed, and you'll have a hard time here."

Aranel nodded in reply and slowly looked up. Every once in a while she would look at someone in the eyes and slowly she got better.

"It'll definitely take awhile, but you'll get it eventually." Avery told her

"How can you stand it?" Aranel asked. "Every single day!"

"Oh, I already knew about it. My father was stared at. I'm stared at, as I said you'll get used to it. Besides I don't think I could make it if it weren't for my friends. Here we are," Avery told her as the entered the great hall. "Come meet them."

Aranel looked up at the ceiling. It was a bright blue dotted with clouds. They walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to a small group of kids. Sneezing as they walked into wandering "clouds."

"This," Avery said pointing to a guy with green eyes and black hair "is Robert." Robert smiled. "This is Don and Dan." He said pointing to two boys with bright blond hair "And this is my sister Roselyn." They all smiled at her and said their hellos and welcomes.

"Well, let's stop talking and eat!" Robert said laughing.

"You're the one who is talking!" replied Roselyn

"Just eat you two!" Don told them, holding two small wooden sticks in his hands

"Why are you eating with sticks?" Aranel asked him

"These?" Don asked pointing two the sticks "These are Chop Sticks."

"He eats with them all the time." Dan told her "He is a bit of a weirdo. No one has been able to figure out why he does it."

Don glared at his twin "Am not!"

"Are too!" Dan said haughtily.

"O, stuff it!" Roselyn said

The twins glared at each other but were otherwise silent.

Aranel laughed, making the boys turn and glare at her.

"Heh, omelet anyone?" she asked nervously gesturing at a plate full of eggs in her hands.

Robert laughed and flipped the plate out of her hands. The plate fell on the twins splattering egg all over them.

Everyone laughed, and soon the twins joined in when they saw Aranel laughing so hard she was crying.

The day progressed slowly. It was the first day of school and everyone was free. It was a day to unpack and explore, which was exactly what Aranel did.

"Whatcha doin?" Roselyn asked, coming up behind her later that morning.

"Well, just looking around. There have to be secret passages and sorts. I mean it's a castle!" Aranel replied

"Oh, don't bother. If you want to find those, just ask Avery. He has a map of the place. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he knows where we are right this moment and is looking for me."

"Why would he be looking for you?"

"Oh, I stole one of his books this morning."

"What book?" Aranel asked

"A book on elves."

"They are awesome. Did you know they can be mistaken for vela's? No one has seen one since the war of Develt one thousand years ago."

"Are the like faeries?"

"Oh no, faeries are small, almost brainless beings. Elves are like us except with stronger magic and pointier ears and...well they are kind of described like a mix between faeries and humans. In fact the book says that elves have probably gone into hiding so as not to have to deal with the evils of mankind. Sigh...I wish I could meet one." Roselyn looked at the ceiling an expression of awe on her face. "They are supposed to be the most beautiful people on earth."

Aranel nodded thoughtfully looking around the empty corridor

"Does the book say where they are?"

"No but, it says that elves love the forests and build their homes there. They could be in the Forest of Gladen." Roselyn replied

"Why there?"

"Oh, because no one has ever come out alive."

Aranel jumped.

"I know. It's really scary." Roselyn told her.

"Oh no not that. It's your brother!" Aranel replied relief in her voice."DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!" she said turning to Avery who was grinning sheepishly

Roselyn sighed. "What did you do Avery?"

Avery put on an offended face his eyes glinting merrily "Who me? Never, I'm deeply hurt" he said pounding his chest next to his heart. "All I did was tap her shoulder!"

Roselyn rolled her eyes as Aranel laughed.

"So anyway, where's my book Roselyn? I know you took it."

"Who me? Never!" Roselyn told him, turning away, an angelic look on her face.


End file.
